Bailouts and Entitlements Redefine Personal Responsibility

Ezekiel 18:20 clearly teaches that each one of us, as an individual, is responsible for our own decisions and actions.  However, it seems as though our bailout / entitlement mentality has redefined this personal responsibility.  We expect to be bailed out if our poor judgment proves us to be irresponsible, and we expect government entitlements at the expense of other people’s tax dollars. 

We expect to be able to renegotiate our mortgage, even though we willingly (and even eagerly) accepted the original terms of that mortgage.  We expect to be able to pay back credit card companies only a small percentage of the amount we charged, and there are even companies who foster this behavior by advertising their services for this very purpose.  Likewise, other companies help people to renegotiate with the IRS for back taxes owed to the government.  (This is truly ironic, because we then turn right around and expect the government to bail us out in some form or fashion, or to offer us entitlements.) 

Ezekiel 18:30 reminds us that we will each be judged according to our own actions.  1 Corinthians 3:5-15 confirms that God assigns tasks to each person, and we will each be rewarded (or suffer loss) according to our own labor.  Our work will be “shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light,” and “test the quality of each man’s work.”

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